Mail-bag catcher.



PATENTED FEB. 7, 1905.

A. FROST.

MAIL BAG GATGHER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 11, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

"l witnesses attowwq PATENTED FEB. 7, 1905.

A. FROST.

MAIL BAG GATCHER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 11, 1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Snuenfoz azYZZera floa Patented February '7, 1905 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALLEN FROST, oF RIOHHILL, orno.

MAIL-BAG CATCl-iER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 782,122, dated February '7, 1905.

Application filed July 11, 1904. Serial No. 216,183.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALLEN Fnosr, a citizen of the United States, residing at Richhill, in the county of Knox and State of Ohio. have invented new and useful Improvements in Mail-Bag Catchers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mail-bag catchers.

The objects of the invention are to improve and simplify the construction of such devices.

\Vith the above and other objects in view, which will appear as the description proceeds,

the invention resides in the novel combination l Fig. is a similar view illustrating the position of the automatically-actuated arms after the trigger has been sprung to catch a mailbag. Fig. at is a detail view of the bag-holding means on the car which is adapted to be released at the moment the mail-bag strikes the trigger of the catching device. Fig. 5 is a view of the trigger which controls the auto matically-actuated gripping-arms.

Like reference-numerals indicate COl'l'G-l spending parts in the different views.

The improved catching device is supported on uprights 1. mounted upon a suitable truck 2. provided with wheels 3, by means of which it may be moved easily into any desired position upon a railroad-platform adjacent to the tracks. Supported upon the uprights 1 is a circular trackway or bearing 1, Figs. 2 and 3, upon which is mounted for rotation a member The member 5 on opposite sides is formed with notches 6, one or the other of which is engaged by a projection or tongue 7 on a leverarm 8, pivoted upon one of the uprights 1, as

By means of the circular trackshown at 9.

' 10, 11, and 12.

way described the member 5 may be rotated in a vertlcal plane in order that the gripping means hereinafter to be described may be disposed in the direction opposite to that illustrated in the drawings. in this manner the improved device is adapted to be used upon a single trackway whereon trains pass in opposite directions at ditlerent times.

The member 5 is formed with cross-pieces Extending through the crosspiece 10 and into the central upright 1 is a pin 13, by means of which the rotatable member 5 is held in position upon the circular trackway a. Fastened upon the cross-piece 10 on opposite sides of the pin 13 are the parallel bent ends 11: of a curved stationary gripping-arm 15.

Pivotally mounted in lugs 16 on the rotatable member 5 is a bracket 17, provided with three outwardly-extcnding arms 18,which are adapted to cooperate with the gripping-arm in catching a mail-bag. Extending through lugs 19 on the bracket 17 are the bent ends 20 of rods 21, which extend loosely through perforations in the ends of brackets 22. fastened upon the cross-pieee10. A coil-spring23 surrounds each of the rods 21, said coil-spring hearing at one end against the bracket 22 and at the opposite end against a nut 2i, mounted to turn on threads formed on the rod. At its rear end each rod 21 extends loosely through a lug 25 on the rotatable member lt will be seen that the tendency of the spring act'uated rodsQl is to draw the bracket 1T.and consequently the arms 18. toward the stationary arm 15. In order to hold said arms 15 and 18 normally separated. a tongue, such as 26, is pivotally mounted on the end of an arm 27, attached rigidly to the pivotallymounted bracket 17. The tongue 26, as shown in Fig. 5, cooperates with a trigger 28, pivotallyconnected with a bracket 29 on the cross-piece 10. \Vhen the spring-actuated arms or jaws 18 are forced away from the stationary arm or jaw 15, they may be held in such open position by placing the tongue 26 against a shoulder 29 of said trigger 28. Thus when the trigger 28 is struck by a mail-bag. such as 30, suspended in the manner hereinafter described from a passing train said trigger is moved toward the stationary arm 15, this movement causing the tongue 26 to slip along said trigger and release the arms 18, which are then forced by the coil-springs 23 in the direction of the stationary arm 15, the mailbag being gripped between said stationary arm and spring-actuated arms. The mail-bag is supported on a member 31, which is pivotally connected at 32 with a swinging arm 33, pivoted to the inside of the car at 34. The pivoted member 31 is formed with a shoulder 35,- which is engaged by the lower end of a pivoted catch 36. \Vhen the pivoted member 31 is in the position shown in Fig. 1, the depending pointed end 37 of the arm 33 acts to prevent the strap 38 of the mail-bag from slipping off said member 31. \Vhen, however, the pivoted catch 36 is tilted backward by striking against a rod 39, which is removably fitted into sockets or holes 40, formed in the cross-straps 41, which connect the upper end of the uprights 1, the pivoted member 31 drops and the strap of the mail-bag loses its engagement therewith. The rod 39 is so placed with respect to the gripping-arms 15 and 18 that the catch 36 is operated to release the mail-bag at the exact moment said bag strikes the trigger 28 and releases the automatically-actuated arms 18. l/Vhen the member 5 is rotated upon its circular track to dispose the gripping members in such position as to catch a mail-bag held by a train moving in the opposite direction, the rod 39, which serves to release the mail-bag from the car, is removed from the sockets or holes 40 and placed in the sockets or holes 40. In this manner the rod 39 is disposed in such position as to release the mail-bag from a train moving in the opposite direction. The arm 33, which holds the mail-bag, is held normally in position by means of a link 42, having curved ends, one of which fits into a socket 43 on the side of the car and the other into a socket 44 upon the end of an angular arm 45, attached to the arm 33. By removing the link 42 from the sockets 43 and 44 the arm 33 may be swung inwardly on its pivot-bearing in.

this invention presents an improvement over prior devices of this character.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is l A mail-bag catcher comprising a track, and a member having bag-catching means, said member being rotatably mounted upon the track to adapt the bag-catching means to catch bags moving in different directions.

2. A mail-bag catcher comprising a track, a member rotatable thereon in a vertical plane, a stationary arm on the rotatable member, an automatically-operated arm cooperating with the stationary arm, and means operated by the mail-bag to cause the actuation of the automatically-operated arm.

3. Amail-bagcatcher comprisingasupport, a rotatable member thereon, a stationary arm on the rotatable member, a pivotally-mounted bracket on the rotatable member, arms carried by the bracket, automatically-operated drawrods connected with the bracket and with the rotatable member, a pivotally-mounted tongue on the bracket, and a pivotally-mounted trigger on the rotatable member.

4. A mail-bag catcher comprising a support, a circular track on the support, a member rotatable on the track and having notches, a lever on the support having a projection adapted to cooperate with one of the notches in the rotatable member, a cross-piece on the rotatable member, a stationary arm having its ends bent into parallel relation with each other, and attached to the cross-piece, stationary brackets on the cross-piece formed with perforations in their ends, a pivotally-mounted bracket on the rotatable member, arms carried by the pivotally mounted bracket, a plurality of drawrods connected with the pivotallymounted bracket and extending through the perforations in the brackets on the cross-piece, coil-springs for actuating the draw-rods, a tongue pivotally connected with the pivotallymounted bracket, a trigger pivotally mounted on the rotatable member, and a rod adapted tobe placed at difi erent points on the support to effect the release of a mail-bag from a train passing in either direction.

ALLEN FROST.

. WVitnesses:

M. B. LYoN, O. M. LYON. 

